CHANGES to recycling collections in Stroud have been met with praise and criticism after the first week of the new system.

The streets and lanes of the Five Valleys were lined with the new bins and food caddies as lorries rolled out to pick up waste from the district’s 52,000 households last week.

While the vast majority of collections went smoothly, confusion and operational problems meant several hundred homeowners’ rubbish was left piling up on the streets for two days.

Residents in parts of Nailsworth, Minchinhampton, Amberley, Box, Stonehouse and Stroud were among those to be missed out, prompting some to take to social media to vent their frustration.

Many complained entire streets were somehow missed out, while others posted pictures of overflowing bins, fly tipping and rubbish scattered across the streets.

Some have reported that their waste has still not been collected by the council.

Green councillor Simon Pickering, chair of Stroud District Council’s environment committee, apologised for the disruption but said the first week had been a success.

“The first week of collections saw around 90 percent of households putting out their food waste recycling for collection. This is a tremendous start,” he said.

"The changes have also prompted people to contact us for more recycling boxes and green wheelie-bins - we’ve had over 3,000 requests for these. It’s great that more people want to recycle.

“We estimate that one to two per cent of collections were missed during the first week, but when you put that in the context of it being a brand new service to all 52,000 homes in the district, it’s a pretty good start.

“Obviously, the crews will become much slicker over the next few weeks and we apologise to anyone who has experienced any disruption but it is a learning curve for all of us.

“Additionally, in this age of social media we would expect to see online criticism of the service, after all it’s a big change to all of our daily routines.

“This has however, been limited and I would like to thank those many residents who have responded directly to people who have expressed their concerns online with advice, guidance and enthusiasm for the changes – effectively acting as ambassadors for the new scheme.”

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He added: “All in all, the changes appear to have been embraced by our residents and, from an operational perspective, collections have so far gone well.

“It seems quite clear that the vast majority of people see the new service as a significant improvement and it looks like the introduction of food waste recycling may have even stimulated people to recycle more of what they already do too. It all looks really good.”

Ginny Smart is a member of Waste Not Stroud, a community group which aims to encourage people to throw less away and find innovative ways to save food.

“We all knew there were going to be some teething problems, but so far I think the scheme has been a success,” she said.

“I’ve supported this idea from the second it was suggested. Dealing with the amount of waste we recycle and the amount of food we waste is so important.

“I think some people will need time to adapt to the new system. That said I think there are some problems with large households that don’t have enough space in their wheelie bins.

“That is something I think the council will really need to look at. Overall though this is a positive step forward for Stroud.”

Stroud resident Emily Joy added: “I’m very happy with the system, glad it's finally happening in Stroud. I’m glad others who couldn't previously compost food can now keep it out of landfill.

“I just really hope people don't complain too much and take some time to read the instructions before moaning.”

Julie Wickham from Stroud said: “The service has been fantastic. I am really pleased. This will help the district get the recycling figures up.”

However, a good section of the community was not quite so happy with their new service.

Some complained there wasn’t enough space left from normal waste, others said they hadn’t been informed of collection date changes and others said they’d never received new bins at all.

This led to confusion in some parts of the district as green and grey bins were strewn down roads and black bag waste piled began to pile up on some street corners.

Libby Rolls commented: “Still no food waste collection. The bins have been out for five days, I’ve made two calls to SDC. But why am I surprised?”

Jamie Fletcher, from Bath Road in Woodchester, said: “I think it great the council are trying to do the right thing.

“However I live in a converted mansion with 10 flats and we have been given two wheelie bins that take one day to fill and then after that the bags are just piled up on the ground.

“The problem here is the wildlife will always rummage through the bags as people still leave food inside the bags. Every week I'm cleaning up neighbour’s rubbish that is strewn across the car park. It’s very frustrating.”

Stroud resident Adam Horovitz said: “The new recycling collection a great idea just so long as one's collection point isn't half a mile away at the top of a steep hill.

“Regrettably, that's exactly where mine is, and I only have a bike for transport.”

Louise Ewing agreed: “I like it in principle but seems crazy that families and elderly get the same size bins with no option for bags.

“Also bins are really hard on very sloppy drives and steps. Impossible in fact if you have disabilities or frail.

“A neighbour opposite wants bags and told council if they don't come and collect her bins she will take them down to the council office and leave them there.”

Pat Bullock was another who complained that two week black bag collection wasn’t enough. “I have no problem with recycling my biggest problem is what to do with what you can't recycle and there seems to be a lot of it,” she said.

Phil Butterworth added: “My initial impressions were ‘about time’ for the council to be more innovative with rubbish.

“Stroud was once known as very ‘green’ but recycling has taken a long time to move forward.

“Sadly not enough thought was given to the ‘operational’ side and it looks as if a lot of food bins were not collected.

“The frustration here was the lack of any information over how long the bins should be left out.

“Hopefully all will work out as this additional recycling and reduction of ground fill waste is an overdue strategy.

“Most people will be patient while the new system beds in but it is disappointing the first day does not appear to have been successful.”

Others took a more comical view of the problems. Adam Tavner said: “Recycling is great. Could the council now provide me with a new shed to house all the bins?”

Introducing the new scheme has meant changes to collection days and times for most households.

One key message the council is keen to get out is the importance of putting bins out for collection before 6am on the day of collection.

This was one of the main reasons for missed collections during the new scheme’s first week.

Stroud District Council’s new scheme means the district’s rubbish will now be collected in new wheelie-bins every two weeks – rather than weekly.

Households have been provided with kitchen caddies to collect food waste in the home, and outside food waste bins to empty them into for collection.

The current recycling bins and boxes will continue to be collected every two weeks as they are at the moment.

As wheelie-bins or beige refuse sacks will now be used to collect rubbish, the council will no longer be providing households with a weekly black bin bag.

However, residents can still use their own bin liners, but these need to be put inside the new grey bins or beige sacks for collection.

For the kitchen caddy and food waste bins, residents do not need to line them but if they want to they can use plastic bags, compostable liners or newspaper.

For further information see stroud.gov.uk/recycling.

To contact the council about missing bins email recycling@stroud.gov.uk

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Additional information

  • You can line your household bin with any bag or liner you wish and place it into your grey-wheelie bin or beige bags for collection.
  • You may wish to put your house number or name on your new bins.
  • Your current green recycling bin and box stay the same, however you cannot put batteries in your green bin anymore, but these can be recycled at supermarkets.
  • If you have been given beige bags for your rubbish instead of a wheelie-bin, you will have received a year’s supply (up to three bags per fortnight – which is more than the previous one bag per week).
  • Fortnightly rubbish collections might sound worrying, but they should be fine, because food waste will be collected separately every week, so the waste left in your bin shouldn’t be smelly.
  • It’s estimated that food waste takes up a third of the space in rubbish bags, so using the new food waste service should significantly reduce the amount of rubbish in your bin.
  • The food waste from the district will be sent to an anaerobic digester where it will be composted and the gases turned into energy to power homes and businesses.
  • The waste product is turned into fertiliser for farmers to use on their fields.